


i quit counting stars

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, my babes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 06:11:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2056833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s fine.” His tv’s screen fades to black, a wheel spinning and spinning as the next level loads, and Kenma’s chest feels the same; there’s something chasing its own tail in the fuzz and haze of his insides and Hinata’s voice whips it into a tractionless frenzy. He clicks start with more force than necessary and breaks the next level into pieces he can swallow and digest. They slip past the boundary of one Hinata Shouyou, whose star-bright presence sticks motionless and unsolved in his throat. “What were you saying?”<br/>(<i>or, go the fuck to sleep, Hinata.</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	i quit counting stars

“Kenma,” Hinata says, static and sleepy across the line, unraveled and gathered again like a braid, and Kenma hums and readjusts the game controller in his lap. “Do you think—oh.” Then, removed and from a distance, “What?”

Kenma listens silently as Hinata’s mother’s voice drifts through the receiver. He holds his breath and moves his character from stone ledge to stone ledge, suspended somewhere above a boiling, green lake, dodging distorted pixels wafting up from the dark of it. Hinata sighs and Kenma hears the springs of his bed protesting, knows the sound from his last visit, and rests his chin on the twin peaks of his knees.

“Sorry.” Hinata’s reappeared, this time with quicker breaths and brushes of white noise as he all but throws himself down the stairs. “Have to take the trash out.”

“It’s fine.” His tv’s screen fades to black, a wheel spinning and spinning as the next level loads, and Kenma’s chest feels the same; there’s something chasing its own tail in the fuzz and haze of his insides and Hinata’s voice whips it into a tractionless frenzy. He clicks start with more force than necessary and breaks the next level into pieces he can swallow and digest. They slip past the boundary of one Hinata Shouyou, whose star-bright presence sticks motionless and unsolved in his throat. “What were you saying?”

“Huh?” A door slides open, closed, and Hinata puffs a considering breath. “Just that we should hang out soon.” There’s a smile behind the words that changes them sun-sweet and Kenma commits the sound to memory, pulls a recreation from the same drawer, turns them both around, and pretends Hinata’s not a too-long trip away.

“Whose house?” His character reaches the end of his route, pumps a black fist to a purple sky, and Kenma watches the load-screen as the wheeling inside tries to keep up with its animated duplicate.

“In-between?” Hinata asks before the clash and clink of trash bogs the connection. “We could get food, or something.”

“Or something,” Kenma parrots, slower and lower, then considers. “Okay.”

“Great!” The door slams open again, then closed. Hinata bounds back up the stairs, jumps on his bed, and the twist of his tone ripens sweeter. “What’re you doing now?”

“Still playing.” He twists his own body as his character jumps, accidentally pressing another number on the phone sandwiched between his ear and shoulder. Hinata laughs.

“What level are you on?” It’s muffled and Kenma waits for the inevitable crunch. Hinata talks through mouthfuls of food and Kenma listens—he’s loyalty personified, and it’d worry him if he weren’t past caring.

“Twelve.” The wheel reappears. He taps the controller’s buttons impatiently. “Thirteen, now.”

“You’re really good at video games,” Hinata says, loud and almost-jealous. Kenma curls his bare toes into his blanket, tucks his chin harder into his knees.

“Not really.”

“Yeah, right.” Hinata rolls over, sighs. “Ahh, it’s already ten.”

Kenma glances at the digital alarm shoved at the farthest edge of his nightstand. “Are you going to sleep?”

“I have practice in the morning.” Hinata’s voice brightens. “I’m gonna leave early so I can beat Kageyama to the gym this time.”

Kenma still doesn’t understand their daily competitions and doesn’t really need to, either. “Good luck,” is all he says, though there’s a dry flat to it he knows Hinata hears.

“Thanks!” And Hinata’s choosing to ignore it. “…I guess I’ll go to bed.”

“Yeah, goodnight.” Kenma pauses the game and drops the controller, moving to hold his phone as he slides his forehead flush against his legs. Trepidation stirs uneasily in his lungs and he turns to face his clock. Its red numbers burn themselves into his eyes and he looks away only just as Hinata begins his nightly goodbye.

“I’ll text you in the morning.” There’s crinkling on the other end, one last crunch as Hinata finishes his snack. “And call you when you’re done with practice?”

“I’ll call you,” Kenma says, before he realizes it, and squints at the time. “Go to sleep.”

“Don’t stay up late again.”

“Okay.”

“You’re going to, anyways,” Hinata says knowingly. “Won’t you be tired?”

“Good _night_ , Shouyou.”

“Bye.” But the click doesn’t come for another few seconds.

Kenma locks his phone and drops it. He tightens his arms around his legs and thinks about video games and Shouyou and unfamiliar train stations. The threat of a crowd’s pressing noise wars with Shouyou’s steamrolling insistence, and he’s weighing pros and cons when his phone buzzes against his foot.

_Go to sleep_ hangs bright and bolded on the screen, studded with emoticons and exclamation marks Kenma’s too lazy to use, and the wheel spins and spins and does not stop.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [association song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf8aEaFOx-Q)  
>  hello kenhina is so real


End file.
